Paneer Tikka

Paneer Tikka (पनीर टिक्का) originates from India, and is made from chunks of Paneer (cottage cheese) marinated in spices and grilled in tandoor. It is one of the supreme delicacy for vegetarians, as an alternative to Chicken tikka. In absence of tandoor, you can also make it on tava, however tandoor offers the special smokey flavour. I made it using a Barbecue tandoor as well as tava. Below is my simple to follow step by step recipe, the key to success here is marination.

Preparation time : 10 minutes (Excluding time for leaving aside for marination)

Cooking time : 15-20 minutes (Excludes heating the tandoor)

Serving : 5-6

Paneer Tikka

Paneer Tikka on Tandoor

Tandoor Paneer Tikka

Paneer tikka on tandoor

Ingredients:

Paneer – 500 grams

Bell pepper – 3

Onions – 2 big sized

Yogurt – 2 tablespoon

Ginger Garlic paste – 1.5 tablespoon

Coriander Powder – 1 tablespoon

Turmeric Powder – 1 teaspoon

Salt – 1.5 teaspoon or as per your taste

Red chilli powder – 1 teaspoon

Garam masala – 1/2 teaspoon

Lemon juice – 3 tablespoon

Orange Colour – 1/2 teaspoon (optional)

Recipe:

Cut Paneer, bell peppers and onions into cube. Now take a mixing bowl and add yogurt and ginger garlic paste to it. Now put all the dry spices and mix the paste properly.

Bell peppers

Paneer

Onion

Ginger garlic paste for paneer tikka recipe

Marination mixture

Spices mixture for paneer tikka marinade

Now add cubed vegetables and paneer and mix them well so that they are all well coated with the paste. Cover the bowl with cling film and let it marinate for 1-2 hours.

Marinate for paneer tikka

Marinated paneer tikka

Marinated paneer tikka

Heat your barbecue. I ignited coal and then waited for 25 minutes to get it heated properly. Fire should be settled and coal should be burnt properly, this is to ensure that paneer does not get burnt on surface and for even cooking inside and outside.

Seekh Paneer Tikka

Once you ignited your coal and waiting for it to be ready for cooking, place the marinated paneer and vegetables on skewers. Try to hold panner pieces between 2 pieces of bell peppers. This way they don’t fall down while cooking.

Paneer tikka ready to be roasted

Get all your skewers ready this way. Once you feel coal is ready, put these skewers on barbecue and let them cook for 4-5 minutes at one side. Brush with little oil and then rotate and cook from other sides. If you are cooking on Tava, then just brush little oil on lava and put skewers and cook them evenly by rotating the sides in between.

Paneer Tikka on Tava

Once they are cooked from all the sides, take them down from barbecue and carefully take out all the pieces.